


A World(s) Full of Chances

by Piper_Ronnie



Category: League of Legends RPF
Genre: Big boy in love, Big crush that goes on forever, Broxah is nervous but has a plan, Caps is an idiot but impossibly cute, Hey google how does one write a oneshot, Jensen is surprisingly helpful, Kind of an ayaya au but we're never getting to worlds lol so not plot related, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Regrets, Rekkles was and will always be a clown, Wholesome Friendship, Worlds 2020, Worlds Group stage results, even milder fluff, there's also some mild angst you know me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:48:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26863165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piper_Ronnie/pseuds/Piper_Ronnie
Summary: After almost not making it, all of Team Liquid is beyond excited to go to Worlds 2020 in China. So excited that even the mandatory two-week-quarantine can't dim there shine. One of the team's players is thrilled for an entirely different reason that the rest, though.Yes, after all this time, Broxah simply can't wait to finally see Caps again.
Relationships: Mads "Broxah" Brock-Pedersen/Rasmus "Caps" Winther, Martin "Rekkles" Larsson/Rasmus "Caps" Winther (implied)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 35





	A World(s) Full of Chances

**Author's Note:**

  * For [my beautiful girlfriend](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=my+beautiful+girlfriend).



> Hello everyone! I'm very excited to present you with my very first oneshot - after seeing Broxah's big smile on screen this morning, me and my lovely beta bean started bouncing off some ideas, and here we are. 
> 
> Also huge props to my lovely discord peeps for encouraging me to go forth, y'all are the best! <3
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy ;>

One would think that quarantine was no big deal for a professional gamer, even if it meant total isolation for two whole weeks. If you get bored, you can just queue up for another SoloQ game, and if you get lonely, you can always switch things up and go for a game of DuoQ. And, with an endless supply of food on the other end of the room service hotline, there really shouldn’t be any issues at all with a little bit of quarantine. Still, for whatever reasons, some of the players took it harder than others. Broxah was one of those players – but for a different reason than the rest. He wasn’t just lonely, or mentally unstable, or desperate for another human’s touch. No, he was feeling a mixture of uneasiness and impatience because he had heard that his team would be staying in the same hotel as G2 esports from his coach. Two weeks of quarantine therefore meant two weeks under the same roof as Caps, without actually being able to talk to his former teammate in person, that is. It was something he had wanted to do for so long now – maybe as long as since the last time they got to see each other during Rift Rivals.

 _So close and yet so far just got a whole nother meaning_ , Mads thought grumpily as he looked at himself in the mirror, trying to catch his breath after his third set of push-ups. He had lost quite some of his mass during the intensive lock-down back in America as he couldn’t hit the gym as regularly during that time, but the jungler did his best to get back on track now that he had the time and energy for it. The prospect of seeing Rasmus again helped as well – whenever the Dane found himself losing motivation to push for another set, he imagined enclosing his former midlaner in his strong arms again, just like he used to do after especially meaningful victories as a team. Yes, those moments went down in his top 10 memories effortlessly and always brought a smile to the jungler’s lips. After another incredibly exhausting workout that went on for almost two hours, Mads finally felt content with his results. After a quick shower, the Dane took a moment to fulfil his daily ritual in front of the bathroom mirror.

“Hello, Rasmus. I’ve really missed you,” he said, facing his reflection and giving it a wide smile.

 _No, no I can’t say that_ , he thought in the next moment, shaking his head to shake off his awkwardness, _that just makes me sound like a creep._

“Hey, Rasmus, I’m so happy to see you!” Mads exclaimed, smiling brightly as he opened up his arms.

 _No, that doesn’t sound right, either – what if he doesn’t want to hug me right away?_ _I shouldn’t be so pushy,_ the jungler considered, scratching his chin.

“Hi, Rasmus, how have you been?” He asked his reflection with a polite nod.

 _Okay, well…_ _that could work, but it sounds so basic, what if he thinks I’m not even happy to see him if I say it like this?_ Mads thought with a sigh, turning away from the mirror to slouch back into his room. Even though this was the tenth time he had practiced his opening line during quarantine, he still couldn’t find the right words to use. Maybe he was overthinking it, sure – but there was a reason why he was so keen on making the right first impression after all this time. It was because he had heard a rumour. A rumour that made him believe that, finally, the time to tell Rasmus how he really felt about him had come.

You see, when both of the Danes started playing together, it didn’t take Mads long to understand that he liked Rasmus more than just a teammate, or a friend, for that matter. But he had never had the guts to confess – and then, Rasmus started dating Rekkles. And after that had found its tragic end, Rasmus left Fnatic to join G2. And even though he was single during that time, Mads never felt like Rasmus was open for anything new in his first year with the European champions whenever they talked. Maybe leaving Europe to join Team Liquid was the jungler’s way of trying to forget about his crush on the other Dane – but in the end, he never did. And now, he had heard a rumour from Jensen, who had heard it from Zven, who had apparently gossiped about it with Perkz – and, yes, from the sounds of it, Rasmus had finally started to open up to the idea of dating again. And Mads knew just the guy for it.

Even though he normally had problems with his confidence, despite being praised for his looks on multiple occasions ever since he joined the scene, Mads had slowly but surely gotten more comfortable with the idea of putting his feelings out there. Maybe it was because Jensen had been there for him. Yes, Nicolaj was without a doubt his closest friend on the team, probably because they had so much in common. They were both Danish, they both liked to talk about the food from back home and they both had, at some point in their lifes, discovered that they liked guys. The midlaner had gone as far as to tell Mads that the chances were high that Caps reciprocated the jungler’s feelings every day, which would always make him blush and stammer – but, of course, he enjoyed the thought a lot. It was what kept him going now, as he approached his final days of quarantine, babbling to himself in front of his bathroom mirror in search of the perfect words. _If Nicolaj is right, my words don’t even matter_ , Mads thought nervously after another catastrophic failure, _if Rasmus thinks about me this way, too, then it will be alright either way_.

The jungler’s aspired time schedule was soon thrown overboard, as he simply didn’t get any chance to talk to Rasmus even long after quarantine had ended. His day was packed with scrims, and later on Team Liquid had to go on stage as well for the play-in games, and the team’s breakfast areas were split up into different rooms so that the players would never meet off-stage. Mads was disappointed to say the least – if it hadn’t been for Jensen by his side, he might have either given up hope or broken the strict hygienic guidelines to storm G2’s designated team area at some point. But, through various pep talks and, of course, his aspirations to make it into the group stage and then out of it now that he had come to play at Worlds again, Mads persevered. He sometimes dared to shoot Rasmus a message whenever he randomly met him in SoloQ games, which was just about enough to get him through – until the day in which his team was supposed to face G2. The evening before, Mads realized that he’d see the other Dane again, on the big stage, with loads of cameras and even more eyes pointed at them – and that wasn’t anything like how he had pictured them meeting again at all.

Needless to say, the jungler woke up with the worst possible mood. He was a nervous, yet grumpy, yet agitated mess, and he was late for breakfast, on top of that. Half-heartedly, he brushed through his hair and splashed some cold water into his face before grabbing his face mask to head down to his team’s breakfast area. _Just another day, like any other_ , he thought, trying to convince himself to lose the frown on his face, but without success. Luckily, the mask was hiding most of his gloom from the outside world. But, as the door of the elevator Mads had mounted swung open again after a hand had kept it from closing completely – that’s when the jungler wished the mask could have hidden his face altogether.

“Morning…” The much smaller guy yawned as he strolled inside the elevator, pressing the same button Broxah had chosen seconds ago again. It didn’t take the jungler more than the fragment of a second to figure out who the intruder was, despite the mask on his face – it took Caps a little longer, but, eventually, he looked up and said, “Mads – Mads, is that you?”

Suddenly, the whole two weeks of practice the Dane had under his belt were thrown out of the window, without Mads having a say in it whatsoever. “Rasmus – yes, me Mads, I mean, it’s me, of course, hello.”

 _Oh my god, kill me now_ , he thought with an incredibly pained smile right under his mask.

“Hey! Gosh, I knew it was you – I’m glad to see you,” Rasmus beamed, and Mads had no problems with visualizing, or even feeling the other guy’s smile under that G2 mask.

“You – you are?” Mad stuttered. He was sure his whole face must have been flushed in a deep red by now and prayed that the other Dane wouldn’t notice. He just couldn’t help it – how could someone be so effortlessly cute and yet so clueless at the same time?

“Of course! How have you been? It’s great that we both made Worlds again, right?”

“Yes, right,” the jungler nodded, leaning against the side of the elevator in an attempt to look relaxed, “not that it was ever a question whether your team would make it…”

“Hmm, I guess,” Rasmus smirked with his hands folded behind his back, “this year has been a bit more chaotic than the last one, though.”

“I can imagine,” Mads mumbled as if he knew nothing about the midlaner’s personal life at all, “actually – where is the rest of your team? Aren’t we supposed to move around as a group?”

“You’re one to talk, or are you hiding all of Team Liquid behind that back?” Rasmus laughed, jokingly trying to look past the broad guy. The sound of it was enough to make the jungler’s heart melt.

“Y-you’re right,” he said with a slight chuckle, “I was just running late because I overslept…”

“So did I,” Rasmus said as he ruffled through his wild hair with his fingers – he obviously didn’t invest those 30 seconds into using a brush before leaving his room.

“I see…” Mads murmured with a soft smile on his lips. Now that he was so close to the midlaner again, it was just like it had always been – he was in awe just looking at him. It felt as if that was enough, as if he could just stare at the goofy midlaner trying to make up for an entire morning routine with only the help of his bare hands and the slightly scratched up mirror wall of the elevator. But, in the end, that wasn’t what Mads had set out for. “Hey, Rasmus?” He finally asked.

“Yeah?” The smaller guy said, turning around to look up at the jungler’s face with curious eyes.

“I –“

Before Broxah could figure out his words, the door of the elevator opened. After going down around twenty stories way too quickly, the Dane cursed out what modern technology had made possible, wishing for some more time alone with his opposite.

“What were you saying?” Rasmus asked as he took one step out of the elevator, “I kind of need to go down this way to go to the toilet before joining my team for breakfast, so if it’s nothing too important maybe we could talk later?”

Mads swallowed hard. Later was not what he had hoped for, but he had never been able to say no to Rasmus and it didn’t look like he was about to start now. “Sure,” he nodded slowly with his hands in his pockets, “later is good.”

“Great, see you then!” Rasmus beamed, turning right to head towards the restroom only to stop a few steps in. “And if we can’t make it before the game later,” he yelled over his shoulder with excitement glistening in his eyes, “don’t hold back in the rift! I surely won’t!”

“I won’t either,” Mads said loudly, grinning from one ear to the other, “it’s a promise!”

And, with his heart practically hammering in his chest, the jungler slowly walked to finally join his team at the breakfast table. His stomach was rioting by now but Mads couldn’t care less. _He actually said he’s happy to see me_ , he thought, smiling to himself, _maybe it really is just like Nicolaj said_. But wait – abruptly, Mads stopped in his tracks. If it was just like his midlaner had told him for months now, wasn’t he missing out on his chance? Shouldn’t he grasp the opportunity that had just presented itself to him right now? Yes, it felt as if he shouldn’t, or rather couldn’t, waste this moment – he simply had to tell Rasmus now. Mads willingly chose to ignore the awkward setting of what was about to go down and rushed back to where he had come from, only to turn left to get to the restrooms. He reached for the door, and, as he heard the tab water run right behind it, he gathered all of his courage and pushed through.

“Rasmus, I know this is awkward, but I just need to –“

He didn’t get to finish his sentence. As soon as Mads laid eyes on Rasmus – or rather, on who he was with – it was as if all air had been sucked out of his lungs, leaving him unable to speak. All he could do was stare at the guy he wanted to pour his heart out to in the arms of someone else. And not just anyone. He wouldn’t even have needed the bold letters on the back of the player’s jacket to know it was Rekkles – of course it was. Both of the guys were so absorbed in their kiss that they didn’t even notice that someone had come in, let alone someone who had called out Rasmus’ name. After what felt like a second of swallowing a thousand needles, Mads slowly backed away, closing the door again without making another sound. With his hopes shattered and his heart broken once more, he slouched down the hall, much slower than when he had approached the cursed restrooms. _How could this have happened again?_ The jungler thought, swallowing hard as he felt his lips starting to tremble _, I was so sure that it would be different this time around_.

The rest of the morning was dark and grey. The food tasted like nothing, and the warm-up games Mads played made him feel nothing, win or lose, and he couldn’t laugh about a single joke Jensen tried to crack. But no matter how broken he felt, he was not about to break the last promise he had made to Rasmus. He was going to leave his heart on that stage and play harder than he had ever played before. The jungler felt his midlaner’s concerned gaze on him during pick & bans. He noticed Rasmus looking over at him every now and then too, smiling as crookedly and innocently as he always did. Mads felt the fire in his guts grow even bigger, to the point were his whole body was burning up – yes, he simply knew that he’d make this game count.

And so he did. Together with the team he had been with all year, his new family, almost, Mads handed the G2 boys their asses on a silver platter. They made them eat their first loss – and boy, it couldn’t have felt any better. Beating G2 had always been a huge deal to the jungler, naturally, but it felt even more important now. As he hugged and praised his teammates, Mads was overcome by joy – a sentiment that soon turned bittersweet as he realized he’d have to walk up to bump fists with their opponents now. He kept his smile as the team trotted over to the other side of the stage. Just as always, the G2 boys didn’t welcome the winners of the match with a sour expression; no, they were smiling right back. Rasmus’ smile might have been the brightest one out of all of them. As Mads bumped the midlaner’s fist, the other Dane whispered, “good job, you sure showed me!” The jungler nodded – suddenly, his smile felt a little more forced.

After they had exited the stage, Nicolaj immediately rushed to the jungler’s side. “Where are you going?” He asked with an irritated look on his face.

“What do you mean?” Mads muttered, “we’re going back to our lounge.”

“Well, duh – but didn’t you say you wanted to talk to Rasmus after the game?” The midlaner went on, trying to match the taller guys’ pace, “I swear you talked about it yesterday, that’s why you were so nervous today, right?”

“Uhm…” Mads hummed, unsure of what he was supposed to say to that. He didn’t want to worry Nicolaj but, frankly enough, he didn’t feel like talking about what had happened earlier that day at all. “I think I changed my mind.” He finally said.

“Oh, I see…” Nicolaj mumbled. Suddenly, he stopped walking, pulling on the jungler’s sleeve to make him do the same. In front of them, the rest of the team continued walking down the hall.

“What are you doing? We’re not supposed to move outside of the group, we –“

Without another word, Jensen wrapped his arms around the Dane’s waist, holding him close. He was only about tall enough to reach Mads’ chest with his face, but he made up for their difference in height and strength with effort. The jungler felt startled – it was not like he didn’t enjoy the soothing warmth of another body pressed up against his, but it simply came completely out of the blue.

“What – what are you doing?” He mumbled, looking left and right to check if anyone could see them. He wasn’t sure what to do with his hands, either.

“Well… you just looked like you needed it,” Nicolaj muttered against the Dane’s muscular chest.

“Oh…” Mads sighed. Of course it was no use to hide his pain from the midlaner – out of everyone around him, it was only natural for him to be the one to notice without being told. The jungler finally returned the hug, with his hands softly patting the smaller guy’s back. When Jensen slowly started to pull away after what felt like an eternity, Mads somehow wished they could have stayed this way even longer.

“Thank you…” He whispered.

“Of course,” Nicolaj responded with a slide nod and a soft smile, “let’s go back to the others, hmm?”

And, with one hand up on the jungler’s back, Jensen guided him to their team’s lounge, almost as if he had lost his ability to navigate there himself. To be fair, Mads did feel like he had lost his way a little – and he was so thankful for Nicolaj. For his whole team, actually. Maybe this dark day didn’t have to be as sad after all. _And there’s always Rift Rivals – anything could happen_ , Mads thought with a soft sigh. But then, he glanced down at Nicolaj’s head bopping up and down beside him in an oddly endearing way. As the other Dane noticed his stare on him, he looked up and gave the jungler his brightest smile. Was his heart still flattering because of the adrenaline high he had earned with his victory against G2?

_Or maybe, just maybe…_

**Author's Note:**

> This is the part where I'd normally teaser what's coming next, but this is really all, can you imagine? 
> 
> Feel free to tell me your thoughts and feelings here on ao3 or on the DreamServer, your contribution will be appreciated either way <3


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